


Cat People

by Rockabilly



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen or Pre-Slash, Genin Era, M/M, Pre-Time Skip, but can be read as gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-11 22:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7909858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rockabilly/pseuds/Rockabilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cats like Sasuke. A lot. Naruto is not okay with this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cat People

It all started when Team 7 had to go to some old granny’s house to get information. Sure, it had probably been going on long before then, but that was when Naruto really started to notice.

The granny’d had this fluffy white cat that was obviously spoiled rotten. It stalked around threateningly like it was the real home owner and they had broken in uninvited. Sakura tried to coax it into letting her pet it. When she looked downcast at her failure, Naruto tried, too, earning a yowl and a scratch on his hand for his trouble.

Then Sasuke returned from the bathroom, sat down, and did absolutely nothing, and the cat padded daintily over and leapt straight into his lap. The loud purr that visibly set the cat’s fur trembling only added insult to injury. A flash of annoyance passed over Sakura’s face, giving Naruto hope that they could unite against a common enemy. But of course, shortly after, she just fell all over herself with how cool Sasuke looked with the cat. Cool!

The frustrating thing was that she was right. Somehow, Sasuke made slouching on an overstuffed, floral-print arm chair with a fat cat shedding all over him look really cool, like the cat was secretly a ninja cat or something and they were going to go fight crime just as soon as they finished silently disdaining the mundane people around them.

Normally, this would have been a minor annoyance, easily brushed aside. Unfortunately, once Naruto noticed the first time, he couldn’t stop seeing it. Cats liked Sasuke. They really liked Sasuke. Anywhere team 7 went, if there was a cat in the vicinity, it _liked Sasuke_ , and for no reason that Naruto could see. The bastard didn’t go out of his way to be nice to them or anything. Most of the time he hardly seemed to realize they existed.

The situation was far too similar to the inexplicable appeal Sasuke held for a certain segment of the human population. Naruto wasn’t self-aware enough to realize that his resentment in this cat matter might be inflamed by a different one, and he would have just laughed if anyone had tried to tell him. The great Uzumaki Naruto didn’t need a reason to be better than his rival at anything. In this case, he was going to be way better than Sasuke at winning the feline affections of Konoha. And why not? Naruto was going to make everyone in the village acknowledge him, _even the cats_.

Thus began Naruto’s campaign. He tried everything. He got down on his knees, offered treats, spent his hard-earned mission wages on expensive cat toys, and checked out books from the library with titles like “The Feline Mystique.” He even learned to meow pretty convincingly.

It made no difference.

If they passed a cat on the street, it would sidestep Naruto’s outstretched hand and make a beeline for Sasuke, rubbing up against him while he stood there with his stupid hands in his pockets. If they stopped in front of a pet store so Sakura could coo over all the cute animals, the kittens would totally ignore Naruto’s tapping and goofy faces and instead wobble over to paw at the glass where Sasuke was leaning with his back to them. Hell, one time a mangy stray that had been washing itself on a wall clawed at Naruto when he tried to tempt it with a long wriggling grass blade, and then had the nerve to try to clamber onto Sasuke’s shoulders as he sauntered by.

Sakura giggled and declared with a hair toss in Naruto’s general direction that Sasuke must be a “cat person” with a pure and kind heart. The implication was clear that the besotted cats, with the superior powers of character judgement attributed to animals everywhere, were providing evidence of Naruto’s lack of redeeming qualities as much as Sasuke’s shining virtues.

Naruto had to ask himself sometimes if Sakura, for all her perfections, might need to have her eyes checked. There was nothing “pure” or “kind” about that bastard Sasuke, and someone couldn’t be a cat person if they didn’t even like cats.

Sasuke’s aptitude as a cat magnet was just one of the unfair mysteries of the universe, Naruto was finally forced to conclude. Possibly he smelled like dead fish to them. That was probably it.

So it was more than a surprise when one day Naruto shoved open Sasuke’s window yelling about some dickish thing Kakashi had done and got an eyeful of Sasuke standing at the sink covered in cats. There was an orange one draped over his shoulder, a tabby nestled in the crook of his arm, and a tiny kitten perched on his head. Sasuke’s hand was arrested mid-stroke over the tabby as he and Naruto stared at each other in frozen silence.

Typically, Sasuke was the first to recover.

“Was there something you needed,” he asked coolly.

“Uh…no, it can wait.”

“Fine. Goodbye.”

The window was shut with a decisive click and the curtains jerked into place.

Naruto stayed where he was for a little while, arms folded and face creased into a frown as the wheels turned in his head.

Obviously he’d misunderstood something. No, Sasuke had been hiding this from them, the sneaky asshole, so it was perfectly understandable that he’d missed it. The guy secretly did like cats. Apparently he enjoyed cuddling with them and petting them and probably playing with them and…

Naruto’s brain creaked to a stop. This was too bizarre to be real, but he couldn’t possibly have made up what he’d just seen. However, the idea of Sasuke frolicking with small fuzzy animals was still too far out of his experience to even imagine. This required further investigation.

Naruto nodded to himself just before Sasuke’s impatient bang on the covered window made him yelp and fall backwards.

Every spare moment of the next week was spent trailing Sasuke in true ninja fashion. Unfortunately, Sasuke seemed to have a knack for scowling directly at him, no matter how ingeniously he was hidden. After the first few days, though, the other boy either began ignoring him or Naruto got better at escaping notice. Naruto was willing to bet on the latter, not only because he was awesome that way, but also because Sasuke resumed associating with cats.

While Sasuke did not appear to spend a _great_ deal of time tickling kitty tum tums, he definitely did spend _some_ time with cats. There was a steady flow of them scratching at his door during off hours, anyway, and while some of them he shooed away, others he fed or even let into his apartment. Naruto guessed that the wild-looking ones were strays, and the ones with collars were neighbor’s pets looking for extra attention.

He left his curtains open more times than not. This made it very easy for Naruto to spy on him, and what he saw was so mesmerizing he could hardly tear himself away. There was Sasuke, idly petting a cat while he studied a scroll, or allowing one to drape around his shoulders like a scarf while he swept his room, or letting another curl up in the small of his back while he wrote in his girly diary (Naruto assumed that’s what that was). He even let cats sleep in his bed, sometimes. Once, there were two in there!

While Naruto observed all this, his half-formed plan to expose Sasuke’s kitty-loving ways to their male former classmates and humiliate his rival was forgotten. It was too shocking to witness Sasuke having such an obvious soft spot to even consider exploiting it yet. In fact, the thought that he might be the only person to know about it gave him a funny feeling in his stomach, like he’d swallowed a toad and it was hopping around in there.

He watched the expression on Sasuke’s face when his normally stoic teammate leaned a cheek on a furry head, and couldn’t look away.

Of course, it wasn’t like Sasuke was rolling around on the floor with them or dressing them up in cute outfits as Naruto had at first gleefully hoped to see, but this was still. It was something. Something different.

Everything came to a head one day when Naruto was hanging upside down peering around the window frame. The glass was open a little, but not much, which was why it was such a shock when Naruto barely dodged a shuriken.

“What the fuck!” he howled, scrambling to avoid falling on his skull.

“If you’re going to hang around, you might as well come in, usuratonkachi. You’re making the back of my neck itch,” came from inside.

“I was passing by-”

“Whatever, dumbass. Just get in here already.”

As likely it was that this was a trap, Naruto could not resist the invitation to observe the “cat-person Sasuke” phenomenon up close. So it was against his better judgement that he found himself climbing through the window.

Sasuke remained where he was, sitting cross-legged on the floor, dressed comfortably in a loose pair of dark pants and a white t-shirt. A scroll lay open over one knee, while a cat slumped blissfully over the other. His hand moved gently over the calico coat.

Too wary to sit on the floor next to Sasuke and too uncomfortable with the idea of sitting on Sasuke’s bed, Naruto made for the one chair he saw. He dragged it a little closer before turning it around and straddling it, arms crossed over the back in a nonchalant pose.

Sasuke made no further comment, turning his attention back to his scroll. After ten silent minutes of this, Naruto staring intently and Sasuke ignoring him, the other boy gave up. Rubbing at the bridge of his nose, Sasuke eyed his teammate. Finally, he asked “Do you want to pet her?”

Naruto gave a surprised laugh, scratching the back of his head.

“Nah. Cats don’t like me.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “Cats don’t like loud and obnoxious people. Just be quieter and move slower and they’ll like you fine.”

Naruto bristled. “What the hell! I can be quiet and slow whenever I want to, teme!”

“Then prove it. Come here.”

Naruto hesitated, before dropping to the floor and sloooowly inching closer. The cat and Sasuke watched him with equally unimpressed expressions, but the cat made no move to escape the approaching blonde.

“Here, kitty, kitty…”

“Stop that.”

Naruto huffed but obeyed. He reached forward, then paused warily, remembering all the times he’d been bitten.

The other boy sighed, and took hold of Naruto’s wrist.

“What are you-”

“Shut up.”

“You-!”

“Do it like this.”

He pulled Naruto’s hand forward until it hung limply in front of the cat’s face. Cautiously, the cat sniffed at his fingers. After some consideration, she leaned forward to smooth her jaw over his knuckles.

Naruto breathed out a shaky laugh. Sasuke released him, instructing, “Start with her head. Move slowly so she knows you’re not going to hurt her. That’s right. Make sure to pet her in the direction her fur lies, from head to tail. Now scratch behind her ears. _Gently_. She’s a cat, not a mosquito bite.”

Naruto did as he was told, and amazingly, the cat began to purr. After a moment, she rose to her feet, stretched, and stepped off of Sasuke to circle Naruto, rubbing against him as she went. He carefully stroked the line of her back as she passed, and she arched into his hand.

“See? Stop being yourself for five minutes and you’re good.”

Naruto glanced up to retort, only to stop with a little gulp. At odds with Sasuke’s sardonic tone, there was a gentle curve to his lips as he watched the two of them. It drew a thrill from Naruto’s gut that was weirdly similar to the sense of accomplishment Naruto felt at the purr vibrating up his arm. Naruto tried again, but the bite was gone from his words.

“Whatever, _Sasukeh_. Just don’t be mad when she decides she likes me better than you!”

With a snort, the other boy turned back to his scroll. Left to his own devices, Naruto remembered the cat toy he still had folded in his pouch.

A few minutes later, he was lying on his belly next to Sasuke, chin propped on his arm, flicking the handle of the toy and chuckling at the furious concentration the cat was giving to swatting the dancing end. 

“Oi, oi. Sasuke!”

“Hm?”

“What’s her name?”

“I don’t know.”

“What! But what do you call her?”

“I call her ‘cat.’”

“That’s lame. You’re going to hurt her feelings!”

“Right. If you care so much, check her collar.”

Naruto did, leaning up and grabbing the swinging tag on the collar after a few tries. It was hard with the cat playfully batting at his hand.

“Huh. It’s Keiko. Hey there, Keiko!”

He returned to his sprawl, eyes crinkling shut in a foxy grin. Keiko regarded him thoughtfully, then padded forward to push her forehead lightly against Naruto’s.

“Ah! Sasuke, hey! Did you see that?”

Naruto thumped his head against Sasuke’s leg to get his attention.

“What?”

“She head-butted me!”

“Cats do that sometimes.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know. To show they like you, I guess.”

“I see. Hmmmm. That makes sense.”

“Quiet, dobe. I’m trying to read this.”

“Fine, whatever. I’ll just hang out with Keiko. _She_ appreciates me.”

Apparently tiring of the toy, Keiko took Naruto’s cooing as permission to curl up next to his head. It was kind of awkward to pet her there without changing position, so Naruto just relaxed, his cheek resting on the back of his right hand. Sasuke’s thigh was warm and solid to the left where the back of Naruto’s head still pressed against it, while Keiko was soft and nice-smelling on the other side, fur brushing his profile. There was an unfamiliar contentment welling up in his chest. His lashes dipped drowsily once, twice. Slowly, Keiko’s rhythmic purr lulled Naruto into a doze.

He drifted for what felt like hours. Eventually, something wet tickled his forehead and unwillingly his mind swam back to full consciousness. Upon waking, he realized two things. First, Keiko was grooming the tufts of hair spilling over his forehead.

Second, there were fingers stroking through his hair, from top to nape, and then repeating, leaving a cascade of pleasurable tingles in their wake. The touch alternated light caresses with firm kneads, and on every third stroke there was a scratch of nails against his scalp. It was like…like…

Like he was being petted. And wow, no wonder cats liked it so much if it felt this _good_. Naruto had never in his life been touched like this, and his eyes snapped wide when he realized who must be responsible.

Naruto’s breathing had stuttered in shock but he quickly controlled it, not wanting to startle Sasuke into noticing he was awake. Fortunately, his rival didn’t seem to be paying any attention. Naruto would’ve bet anything that the teme wasn’t even aware of what he was doing. He was probably so used to petting cats while doing other things that he was just on automatic. If he realized that he was actually petting Naruto, he would definitely stop right away and get all huffy and defensive.

Naruto didn’t want him to stop.

He shut his eyes tightly and tried to keep his breathing slow and even, but it was hard when little sounds wanted to work their way up his throat. If he were a cat, he could purr, but it would be weird for a person to be making…noises. Though he couldn’t be sure what they’d actually sound like if he let them out. But it was _embarrassing_ how incredibly good this felt, and he knew there was no way he wouldn’t _sound_ embarrassing, too.

He tried to distract himself by reflecting on whether he’d seen other people touching each other this way. He remembered that in fact, he had. Just the other day when he was walking past the old playground, he’d seen a mother on a bench with a tired child’s head in her lap. She’d spoken softly to him while her fingers ran through his hair.

Come to think of it, Naruto had seen similar scenes played out many times in the past. Hands stroking hair, faces, shoulders, backs. Caresses casually exchanged between relatives, lovers, friends. Although they’d made him feel that familiar bitter twist of envy, he’d never fully understood what he was missing out on because he’d never experienced it himself.

He had an idea now.

It was unfair that this brief moment of comfort should be tainted with sadness, but Naruto couldn’t help himself. He blinked rapidly.

The heavenly fingers continued to comb through his hair, though, and the feeling of heaviness that had descended on him dissipated a little more with each wave of sensation.

He wondered if Sasuke’s mother had ever done this for him. How painful would it have been to have that and lose it? Naruto was already afraid to imagine how long it might be before anyone touched him like this again, and it had barely even entered his experience. 

Was that why Sasuke liked cats? Because being close to them was the nearest he could get to this? Naruto’s chest felt tight.

Sasuke was doing this for him right now, but who could do this for Sasuke? Naruto pictured Kakashi caressing Sasuke. He grimaced.

Sakura would probably love to do it, but he doubted Sasuke would let her, the ungrateful bastard. He didn’t seem to be comfortable with her being close to him. Or anyone else being close to him, either, to be fair. Kind of like one of those wary cats Naruto had tried to entice in the past, in fact. It was a funny comparison- Sasuke’s hair was already so bristly nothing would even change if he started hissing- but it made his behavior make a little more sense. It was probably true that those cats weren’t really contemptuous at all, anyway, they were just scared.

Was Sasuke scared?

What a strange thought.

Naruto could count on one hand the times Sasuke had looked scared. Although it was true that he sometimes appeared _nervous_ when people like Sakura grabbed at him. He was never nervous around Naruto, though. He and Naruto had more physical contact with each other than either of them had with anyone else, really. Did that mean Sasuke didn’t mind touching Naruto? Did that mean Sasuke might even…like it…if Naruto touched him gently, like Sasuke was doing to him right now?

Unbidden, an image took form in his mind of Sasuke’s head laid in his lap, tan fingers weaving through glossy black hair. Would it be soft and silky? Or coarse and prickly? What sort of expression would Sasuke have when those little ripples of pleasure coursed from his head down his spine? Would his eyes close, his lips part, would he make any embarrassing _sounds_ …

There was a strange feeling building in Naruto. Like bubbles were traveling from Sasuke’s stroking fingers to Naruto’s core and on to his extremities, popping in small, intense bursts along the way.

The full-body shudder took Naruto by surprise, and the moment of peace was broken. Sasuke’s hand jolted away, and Naruto could feel the sudden stillness of the body next to his.

Keiko, at least, was undisturbed. She continued to rumble pleasantly, ignorant of any tension.  

Naruto knew things would be more strained the longer he waited, so he shifted his face down and to the left with a groan, fluttering his lashes like he was just waking up. He couldn’t edge back without dislodging the cat, though, so the new position pressed his nose and forehead into the thin material of Sasuke’s pants. He awkwardly rolled his exposed eye up to assess the other boy’s reaction.

It was weird seeing him from this angle. He’d expected Sasuke to look imposing looming over him, but Naruto was so close that his teammate looked soft and unguarded instead. Dark eyes flickered down to him and then away to stare steadfastly at the wall. From where he was, Naruto had a clear view of the faint pink blooming under Sasuke’s chin and staining down his neck.

The blonde made a show of a jaw-cracking yawn, breathing in the scent of detergent and clean skin from the fabric against his nose. He expelled the air in a gush of warmth that made Sasuke’s leg twitch.

“Wow, I really needed that. How long was I asleep?”

Sasuke shrugged, still not looking at him, and cleared his throat. “Maybe an hour?”

“Seriously? It felt way longer. I feel so refreshed!”

Naruto knew he should be getting up right now, or at least moving a little further away, but he really didn’t want to. It felt amazingly good to be close to Sasuke like this. He knew he was acting like a spoiled little brat, but the other boy wasn’t pushing him away or leaving, after all. Why shouldn’t he milk this for all it was worth?

Carefully, he rolled fully onto his back, squirming a bit to make sure he was pressed as close to Sasuke as possible. That got his rival to look at him finally. Naruto nuzzled his cheek against Sasuke’s thigh daringly, holding his gaze, and flashed a cheeky grin.

“Man, if I can nap that well here, you know I’m gonna have to come back and do it again.”

The blonde might have bought the look of casual unconcern on his teammate’s face at any other time, but not when he was at just the right angle to observe the jump of Sasuke’s adam’s apple.

Not to mention look up his nostrils. Naruto squinted, wondering if it was really possible to see someone’s brain through their nose…

“Whatever. As long as you don’t bother me when I’m training, I don’t really care.”

“Cool.”

“Now get out. It’s dinner time and I am not cooking for you.”

“Stingy!”

“Take Keiko with you. Just put her down outside and she’ll find her way home. I don’t want my neighbor knocking on the door accusing me of stealing her.”

“Sure. Hey, you called her by her name!”

Irritation wrinkled between Sasuke’s brows, and Naruto realized he’d hit the limit of his teammate’s patience. Best to leave before Sasuke rescinded what basically amounted to an open invitation.

Naruto’s grin widened at the thought. He pushed himself to a sitting position without moving away, tilting his head so he was gazing directly into dark eyes a few inches away.

“Hey, Sasuke?”

The eyes narrowed. Before Sasuke could make some annoyed reply, Naruto hooked an arm around his neck and pulled forward. His forehead nudged into Sasuke’s gently, just long enough for a shared breath, before the blonde drew back, hopping to his feet.

“Later, bastard!"

He hefted an unresisting Keiko into his arms and was at the door before Sasuke could do more than raise a finger to his own forehead, staring after him with wide eyes.

The door banged shut and Naruto was out in the cool evening air, streaks of red and orange radiating from the horizon.

With a final squeeze, he lowered Keiko to the ground. She bounded off without a backwards glance, making him pout a little. Still, he watched her until she made it to the warm-lit apartment that was her destination. After she scratched, the door cracked open to reveal an older woman, who bent to pick the cat up.

Naruto stuck his hands in his pockets and headed off to his own home. He walked slowly, trying not to think about the dark windows of his apartment, empty of greeting. Instead, he called to mind the light streaming from Sasuke’s apartment, and the shadow moving in the window.

He might not have anyone at home waiting for him, but there was another home where he was welcome. And he would go there again. Maybe tomorrow, even.

With lighter feet, Naruto picked up the pace. He was ready for some cup ramen!


End file.
